The present invention relates to a paper accumulating device for sorting and accumulating a bundle of papers which are sequentially fed.
The paper accumulating device generally comprises a paper bundle feeding port, a paper bundle receiving portion for accumulating a bundle of papers, a delivery path extended between the paper bundle feeding port and the paper bundle receiving portion, and delivery means for delivering the paper bundle to be sequentially fed to the paper bundle feeding port along the delivery path to the paper bundle receiving portion. Furthermore, the paper bundle receiving portion is provided with a sorting mechanism for sorting the delivered paper bundle.
Thus, the adjusted paper bundle is sequentially fed from a sheet collator to the paper bundle feeding port of the paper accumulating device. The fed paper bundle is delivered along the delivery path and is sorted and accumulated onto the paper bundle receiving portion. When the paper bundle is accumulated onto the paper bundle receiving portion up to a predetermined height, it is sent from the paper accumulating device to a processing device at the next step, such as a filing device, or the like.
For example, the sorting mechanism serves to sort the paper bundle by alternately shifting the paper bundle sequentially delivered to the paper bundle receiving portion right and left with respect to a delivery direction. FIG. 4 shows a state in which the paper bundle is thus sorted and accumulated in the paper bundle receiving portion. In FIG. 4, the ends of the papers are adjusted for each paper bundle and the paper bundles are alternately shifted and accumulated. More specifically, the paper bundle is divided into a set in which one of the ends of the bundles make a string of A1 to AX and a set in which the other ends make a string of B1 to BX. Thus, the paper bundles are alternately shifted and accumulated so that work for separately sorting the paper bundles is not required at the next step, such as the filing process, or the like. Accordingly, it is possible to obtain an advantage that a bookbinding process can efficiently be performed.
The above-mentioned sorting mechanism includes means for reciprocating right and left with respect to the delivery direction of the paper bundles to alternately distribute the paper bundles fed to the paper bundle receiving portion right and left with respect to the delivery direction. The reciprocating means, is driven by driving means such as a motor. The reciprocation requires a constant time.
On the other hand, the operating speed of the sheet collator, that is, a paper discharging speed tends to be increased by the progress of technology. However, the operating speed of the sorting mechanism of the paper bundle receiving portion is lower than the paper discharging speed of the sheet collator, and the increase in the operating speed of the sorting mechanism also has a limitation. In order to deliver the paper bundles to the paper bundle receiving portion according to the operation of the sorting mechanism, therefore, the paper discharging speed of the sheet collator should be adapted to the operating speed of the sorting mechanism. For this reason, the paper discharging speed of the sheet collator is set to a lower speed than the possible maximum speed. Consequently, there has been a problem in that the capability of the sheet collator cannot fully be exhibited.